Bethel Census Area
RSSNews from the Bethel Census Area, Alaska
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The Kuskokwim Delta's high tides have passed. Forecasters expected no flooding.
High tides Friday and Saturday will peak a foot above normal along the Kuskokwim Delta, but forecasters expect no flooding in Kipnuk, Kwigillingok, Kongiganak and Quinhagak.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Bethel's deadline to fix a sewage leak passed two weeks ago
Untreated sewage is leaking onto the ground at a Bethel house. The city's repair deadline passed two weeks ago with no word on whether it was met.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Alaska's missing Indigenous list drops to 355, with suspicious cases unchanged
Alaska's count of missing Alaska Native and American Indian people fell by eight. None of the drop came from the cases nobody can explain.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
Bethel Fire Department recruits nationally for a captain and firefighters
Bethel Fire Department is recruiting a captain and firefighters nationally to fill gaps in its eight-person career staff serving over 6,000 residents.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Water forecast 2 to 4 feet above normal high tide in Eastern Norton Sound
Water along Eastern Norton Sound should run 2 to 4 feet above normal high tide from late Thursday into Saturday, with beach erosion likely.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Forecasters flag Kwigillingok as water rises along the Kuskokwim Delta coast
Water along the Kuskokwim Delta coast is forecast 1 to 2 feet above normal high tide, with forecasters flagging Kwigillingok as most exposed to this front.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Bethel council to take up a holiday rescheduling rule, in a code section that does not set meeting dates
Bethel's city council could reschedule meetings that fall on holidays under an ordinance introduced Tuesday, Sept. 8.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Chugachmiut's Sugt'stun language game gets new gameplay footage
Nunaka means my village in Sugt'stun. It is also a free game teaching the language to children in a region where fluent speakers are dwindling.
by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read
Alaska rent increases were the smallest in five years, but Mat-Su and Kenai set records
Alaska rents rose again this year, but the pressure shifted. Mat-Su and the Kenai set records while Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau saw their smallest rises.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Troopers rule Akiak house fire non-criminal
A home burned in Akiak in July with no injuries reported. State investigators have closed the case, finding the cause undetermined but not criminal.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min read
Why the Coast Guard is paying a Homer helicopter company to reach roadless villages
The Coast Guard is paying a Homer helicopter company $345,000 to fly inspectors to roadless Alaska villages to reach the fuel facilities it regulates.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Short on officers, Bethel police look to grow their own with a cadet program
Bethel's police, the hub much of the Y-K Delta relies on, are short officers and dispatchers and are looking to grow their own through a cadet program.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Kuskokwim Delta villages rebuilding from Halong face another storm
Kipnuk and Kwigillingok, still rebuilding from last October's Typhoon Halong, face another storm this week, with coastal flooding possible Friday.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Montana man charged with 37 counts in Bethel hunting residency case
A Montana man faces 37 criminal counts in Bethel for claiming Alaska residency to hunt while living out of state, a violation that affects license costs and permit eligibility.
by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read
Former Rep. Carl Morgan, mayor of Aniak and Kuskokwim Native leader, has died
Former state Rep. Carl Morgan of Aniak, who served in the House from 1999 to 2004 and led communities along the Kuskokwim River, has died. Gov. Dunleavy will order flags lowered statewide.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Bethel commission recommends $2 taxi fare increase, with $1 elder discount
Bethel's Public Safety and Transportation Commission voted unanimously to raise taxi fares by $2 per trip, with a $1 discount for elders, but the City Council has not yet acted on the recommendation.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Kusilvak unemployment hit 16.1% in May, six times Denali Borough's rate
About one in six people in the Kusilvak labor force was unemployed in May, the highest rate in Alaska. Every high-rate region is off the road system.
by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read
Subsistence coho fishing closes on the middle and upper Kuskokwim
Subsistence coho fishing closes Friday on the middle Kuskokwim and a week later upriver. Sonar counts are running about a third below average for the date.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Bethel weighs letting its manager file lawsuits without council approval
Bethel is weighing whether to let its manager file routine lawsuits without a council vote, moving some legal authority from the elected body to city staff.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Bethel would move sand shed money to road salt and water plant engineering
Bethel wants to move about $55,000 from fixing its sand shed to buying road salt and helping engineer a water plant. The council takes public comment Tuesday.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A Bethel man will serve 60 years for sexually abusing a child left in his care
A Bethel man, Matt Atcherian, 27, will serve 60 years in prison for sexually abusing a child under 13 who had been left in his care.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Bethel wants a Louisiana firm to audit local businesses for unpaid sales tax, without bidding
Bethel wants a Louisiana firm to audit local businesses for unpaid sales tax, with no bidding. The $19,999 cap covers only part of the work.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
Bethel health fair screens 48 for diabetes and promotes same-day services
Forty-eight people got diabetes screening at a three-hour Bethel health fair aimed at showing what YKHC can offer the same day a patient walks in.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
Bethel shut off a home's water to stop raw sewage, and the resident turned it back on
Bethel cut off a home's water to stop raw sewage reaching the ground, but the resident turned it back on, and the sewage still has nowhere treated to go.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
State's latest fuel survey put Alaska gasoline at $6.63 a gallon, and it is seven months old
State fuel data shows Alaska gasoline averaged 6.63 dollars in January. This report is seven months old and prices have risen.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Thursday is the last day to file for Bethel city council
Thursday at 4 p.m. is the last chance to file for one of four Bethel city council seats on the Oct. 6 ballot. Voters have until Sept. 6 to register.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Nearly four years on, Alaska has been paid 15 percent of Merbok's $90.9 million
Nearly four years after Typhoon Merbok, only about 15% of the FEMA rebuild money has been paid out — and the deadline to finish the work is seven weeks away.
by Lucas Brown2mo ago3 min read
Bethel-area electric bills would rise about 30% on everything but fuel
Bethel-area electric customers would see the non-fuel part of their bill rise about 30%, with AVEC blaming higher costs for materials, labor and freight.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Akiachak is in line for fiber broadband, one of seven roadless villages getting wired
Akiachak is in line for fiber broadband, one of seven roadless Y-K Delta villages being wired in a project reaching nearly 3,000 long-unserved households.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
The body overseeing the Y-K Delta's only fuel lifeline hasn't been able to meet in a year
Bethel's port commission hasn't had a quorum in a year — leaving the road-less Y-K Delta's fuel lifeline without oversight and a dock warning unaddressed.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Sand Point fishermen get 61 hours on the water — in a fishery the rest of Alaska watches closely
Sand Point fishermen get 61 hours on the water — in an Area M fishery watched across Alaska for catching chum bound for the struggling Yukon and Kuskokwim.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
The state closes Kuskokwim subsistence coho fishing as the run lags
The state closed subsistence coho fishing on the Kuskokwim River, cutting off a key food source mid-run as the coho run comes in far below average.
by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Bethel weighs fixes or demolition for three problem properties
Bethel holds a hearing Sept. 1 on three problem properties it's chased for months — one nearly two years — to decide on fixes or demolition.
by Alaska News2mo ago2 min read
Bethel weighs a climbing fee to force action on empty buildings
A draft Bethel ordinance would make owners of empty buildings register and pay a fee that climbs the longer they sit vacant: $100, $500, then $1,000-plus.
by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read
Bethel man arrested for DUI near Cooper Landing after a REDDI report
A driver reported swerving into oncoming traffic near Cooper Landing was arrested on a DUI charge Friday night, flagged through the state's REDDI line.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Electric bills would rise in Bethel, Yakutat and 50-plus rural communities
Electric bills would rise about 4.75% in Bethel, Yakutat and 50-plus rural communities under an AVEC proposal, on customers already paying several times urban rates.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Bethel's mayor files to run for her city council seat again
Bethel Mayor Rose "Sugar" Henderson filed a letter of intent to run for re-election to her city council seat in the Oct. 6 election.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Kuskokwim coho fishing slow in early August as Bethel sonar counts run low
Coho fishing on the lower Kuskokwim has been very slow in early August amid high water and low Bethel sonar counts, though escapement should still be met.
by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Bethel weighs buying road salt before the river freezes
Bethel is weighing $55,000 in road salt before freeze-up — in a town with no highway in or out, once the Kuskokwim freezes, the barges bringing it stop.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
41.3 million for Alaska Native education is freed up after a month's delay
Fifteen Alaska organizations will share $41.3 million in Native education grants that came a month late, freed up after Sen. Murkowski pressed the education secretary directly.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
